GRR: Alabama
Tennessee and Kentucky won two important crossover games in the SCRC, as the East Division Vols and Wildcats defeated West Division rivals Florida and Alabama.
Those losses were the first of the conference season for the Gators and Tide rugby teams. Kentucky put in some outstanding defensive pressure on a very good Alabama team.
LSU notched an impressive non-conference victory Saturday with a 55-12 defeat of Alabama.
In an entertaining, back-and-forth match, Boston College helds off Alabama 26-20 Friday night in the ACRC Bowl Series at Charlotte, NC.
The game was marked by some exciting back play from BC and hard-nosed work by the 'Bama forwards, and was in doubt until right at the end.
A year ago Alabama shocked everyone in the SCRC playoffs by defeating Tennessee in the semis and making the final.
There, the Tide lost to South Carolina, but the victory was a huge shot in the arm for the program, getting them some more support from the school adminstration and boosting the confidence of the players.
If all eyes aren’t on Alabama in the SCRC, maybe they should be, as the Tide moved to 3-0 in the West division with a convincing 53-19 victory over Florida this past weekend.
The victory, and the 3-0 start, are both a manifestation of increased confidence for the Alabama program after a somewhat surprising playoff run last season.